The present invention relates to mounting arrangements for hand-held shower heads and, more particularly, to such mounting arrangements which permit a shower head to be supported proximate a water supply pipe in substantially the same position as a permanently positioned shower head.
Hand-held shower heads are experiencing a surge in popularity. Such shower heads have many advantages and are convenient to use; however, prior art mounting arrangements for hand-held shower heads have a number of disadvantages. For example, most hand-held shower heads require mounting brackets which are secured to a wall and therefore require that mounting holes be drilled in the wall of the shower stall. Where the entire wall is tiled this disadvantage becomes a serious problem since quite often attempts to drill holes in the tile results in cracked tiles.
It is also desirable that shower heads of the hand-held type be capable of mounting as close to the water supply pipe as possible to thereby provide spray from a location proximate that of a conventionally mounted fixed shower head. The desirability of this position relates to the fact that shower stalls are generally designed to have the spray emanate from a specific location. If the spray emanates from other than that specific location, the bather is often unable to properly position himself within the stall to obtain optimum spray coverage. Moreover, spray emanating from other than the designed location often results in water being directed outside the stall.
There are a few prior art hand-held shower heads which are capable of being mounted directly on a shower plumbing fixture. However when so mounted, these prior art shower heads have limited spray direction adjustability. In some cases the spray direction may be adjusted in a horizontal plane. However, no prior art hand-held shower heads are capable of being mounted on the plumbing fixture in a manner to permit adjustment of spray direction in both horizontal and vertical planes.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a mounting arrangement for a hand-held shower head which eliminates the need for a wall mounting bracket.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a mounting arrangement for a hand-held shower head which utilizes the existing plumbing fixture for mounting and permits the spray direction of the mounted shower head to be adjusted in two planes.